Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim scientists

Being a vegetarian protects you from cancer, claim scientists in a wide-ranging study which found cutting out meat can reduce the risk of some types of the disease by half.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

7:00AM BST 01 Jul 2009

Researchers who studied tens of thousands of Britons over more than a decade found that vegetarians were 12 per cent less likely to contract cancer than their meat eating counterparts.

With a third of the population developing cancer in their lifetime, changing diets could result in more than two million people avoiding the disease altogether, said the researchers.

For some cancers like leukaemia, stomach and bladder cancers the difference was even more striking with up to 45 per cent fewer non-meat eaters contracting the diseases than carnivores.

Dr Naomi Allen, an epidemiologist at Oxford University and co-author of the study, said: "This is strong evidence that vegetarians have lower rates of cancer than meat eaters."

Although it is widely recommended people eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to reduce their risk of cancer and other diseases, there is very little evidence looking specifically at a vegetarian diet.

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, is one of the findings from the European Perspective Investment into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) which is following half a million people.

More than 61,000 people aged between 20 and 89, roughly half of whom were vegetarian, were followed for more than 12 years in the British arm of the research which is supported by Cancer Research UK.

During the time 3,350 people contracted 20 different cancers and the team compared the rates of meat eaters, fish eaters and vegetarians. All the results were adjusted to take into account smoking, obesity, alcohol intake and lifestyle.

While common cancers such as prostate and breast cancer showed little difference, the overall cancer rates were different as were those for blood, stomach and bladder cancers.

Fish eaters actually had the lowest rate of cancer – 18 per cent lower than meat eaters – but they were also the smallest sample.

"We know that eating a lot of red and processed meat increases the risk of stomach cancer. But the links between diet and cancer risk are complex and more research is needed to see how big a part diet plays and which specific dietary factors are most important.

"The relatively low number of vegetarians who developed cancer in this study supports Cancer Research UK's advice that people should eat a healthy, balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat, salt and red and processed meat."

Su Taylor, of The Vegetarian Society, said: "That is why we need more research along these lines to find out exactly what is going on. We are not saying vegetarianism is the panacea for all ill health but it certainly helps protect against a number of diseases."